‘The UAE is my only home’: Why residents fought to return amid flight disruptions during US-Iran-Israel war

We rarely articulate our love for home, not unless someone asks. Most of the time, the feeling resides in the background of our lives, built from years of routine and small, ordinary moments: Greeting the familiar faces at the grocery store, wandering through the neighbourhood park, stopping to play with the neighbour’s dog.

It’s in these seemingly insignificant rituals that a place quietly takes root in you, until one day, you realise home is no longer just where you live, but where you truly belong.

Then comes the worry, that it might be a while before you see it all again. That anxiety rippled across UAE residents abroad on holiday when tensions in the Middle East disrupted airspace, forcing airlines to cancel or reroute flights. Major carriers, including Emirates and Etihad Airways, temporarily suspended or adjusted several routes while closely monitoring the situation.

Flights slowly began to resume, cautiously and incrementally. For days, residents hovered in uncertainty, caught in a cycle of hope and frustration. For many expatriates, the ordeal was a stark reminder of just how deeply their lives had become rooted in the UAE.

For dog mums, being away from home during a crisis can be especially nerve-wracking, a concern that was among the first to cross Dubai-based Nikki Dickinson's mind.

For Nikki, a real estate broker, the news came at the end of what had been a winter getaway in Europe. Having lived in the UAE for around six and a half years, she and a friend were skiing when their return flight from Geneva was suddenly cancelled on February 28. “We were flying with Emirates, whose ground staff were fantastic and immediately moved us into a hotel and provided vouchers for food,” she recalled. “Communication with the airline was excellent and we were able to speak directly with the Emirates team.”

Despite the uncertainty, the situation was handled swiftly. A few days later, she received welcome news: She had been placed on one of the first repatriation flights. “We were called for one of the first repatriation flights on Tuesday 3 March,” she said. “We flew Lufthansa to Munich, had a seven-hour layover, and then boarded an Emirates repatriation flight arriving back in Dubai on Wednesday.”

And in all the uncertainty and confusion, a friend group was quickly formed. “During the experience we formed a group of friends and kept each other’s spirits up while waiting for news of when we could return,” she said.

But watching the crisis unfold from afar felt surreal. “When we learned the UAE was intercepting missiles, it felt very strange not to be there. My first thought, honestly, was my dog,” she said.

You don’t realise a country is your home, till you don’t know when you’re back to it. “I realised how strongly I now feel about the UAE being home. I just wanted to get back to the UAE and the life I have built there,” explains Nikki.

Despite the regional tensions, she never doubted her decision to return. “The UAE has given me every opportunity to create a wonderful life and I trust the country’s leadership, so there was never any question in my mind about returning on a repatriation flight.”

There was a relief, when the plane finally touched down in Dubai. She felt peaceful to be home again.

Louise Collins was in India, travelling with her husband, when she realised returning to Dubai, her home for the past two and a half years, might be difficult. “I find the mix of personal and professional opportunities, a multicultural population, supportive business networks, and the lifestyle to be unbeatable,” she said.

So when the news broke about escalating tensions and airspace disruptions, there was a rush of anxiety. “My immediate thought was: how long until we can get home—back to Dubai?”

Despite the seriousness of the situation, returning to her daily life in the UAE remained her priority. “Returning to my life, work and friends in my adopted home was my only concern. I had no hesitation in returning as soon as I could.”

Like many travellers, she experienced a few days of uncertainty before her flight plans changed and was finally cancelled. Determined to get home, she eventually managed to secure new seats by calling the airline. “After some perseverance, I rebooked by phone, getting through to someone who very kindly and calmly got seats for both of us on the next flight back, a big relief, because we were on different bookings.”

It was a strange feeling to be glad to be back, and yet it wasn't strange. After all, it's home.

Perhaps it sounds dramatic, but it’s strange to see how the world quickly pulls the rug from under your feet.  One moment, you could be skiing, or trying out a new dish in a restaurant, or perhaps just sleeping on a holiday. The next moment, you’re suddenly confronted with the knowledge that the skies have closed. You can’t go home. A vacation stops being one when you don’t know when you can return home.

For Fiona Falconer, a pilates instructor who has lived more than 28 years in the UAE, everything changed on a Saturday, just as she went to visit Newcastle. Her flight cancelled. “It was a very weird feeling, and all I wanted to do, was to get home. I’ve lived half my life there,” she says. She couldn’t get through the airlines immediately, despite the desk being visible at the airport. Finally, she overheard someone mentioning a Newcastle flight, and managed to arrange one back home.

In those moments, you realise how much you love your home, as she says. “My children were away and it was just my husband alone at home, so I was worried about him,” she says. Nevertheless, she praises the airlines for being efficient and bringing her back safely.

Sarah Silsbury knows exactly what it means to feel caught between two worlds. A Dubai-based stylist and British expatriate who has called the UAE home for five years, she had no idea that a simple long weekend trip to see her daughter in the UK would turn into a desperate race to get back to the life she had built.

"I'd gone to see my daughter, just a long weekend, nothing more," she recalls. "I was flying in and out of Heathrow. I left Dubai on a Friday night, and then, on Saturday morning, my husband rang me and said - don't look at the news." She pauses. "Obviously, I did."

What followed was a week of mounting anxiety and cascading cancellations. Her Tuesday flight was scrapped. She was rebooked onto an early Wednesday morning departure and shuttled to an airport hotel - only for that flight to be cancelled too. It was only when the UAE announced it would be operating repatriation flights that hope finally flickered back.

When she finally made it to the airport, the relief was overwhelming and it was the Emirates team who helped hold her together. "I got a little teary-eyed," she admits. "I was so stressed, and they just, they hugged me. They told me everything was going to be okay. They were navigating an incredibly uncertain situation, and they still made me feel cared for. That was the moment I truly understood why I call the UAE my home."

But it wasn't only the warmth of that airport encounter that crystallised things for her. An unsettling experience on the London Underground had already done that. “My husband, my pets, my community, my neighbourhood - that's home," she says with quiet certainty. "The UK doesn't feel like home to me anymore."

Silsbury has also been deeply troubled by the way the British press has framed life in the UAE and the lives of those who choose it. "I just don't understand it. The lack of empathy for people who have simply chosen to build their lives somewhere else is astounding. And the level of vitriol and hatred, it's just beyond me. It makes me embarrassed."

Conversations with friends from conflict-affected countries - Ukraine, Lebanon, gave her a sharper, more humbling perspective. They know this kind of displacement, this kind of fear, not as a once-in-a-lifetime shock but as a recurring reality. “Talking to them made me truly understand their lived experiences in a way I hadn't before,” she reflected. "But we have the protection of the UAE."

When her plane finally touched down, the emotion she felt was pure, uncomplicated relief. "Walking into that airport, being greeted with smiles, it hit me all at once," she said. “There is a real community in Dubai. And coming back to it, I was completely overwhelmed.”